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Monday, June 26, 2017

Lovers of Wild Orchids: Get Thee Hence to a Bog in Vermont #Gardening #Photography

Orchids often don't mean much more to people than an ooh wow centerpiece for a corsage or something of that nature but there's a phenomenal array of 25,000 or more orchid species in the world so the variety is astonishing and you can see a number of them flowering just now in a bog in Vermont which has just the right soil conditions and moisture for them.

In this Thursday, June 22, 2017 photo, rare wild orchids bloom in the Eshqua Bog in Hartland, Vt. This particular orchid is considered rare in Vermont. It thrives in the area that is technically defined as a fen because of the wet, sunny conditions, with soil containing peat and lime. (AP Photo/Lisa Rathke)

Orchids have figured in a large way in my life since I spent quite a bit of time photographing them when I was too smashed-up after a bike crash to do much of anything else. Such flowers may seem somewhat stiff and formal to people since we usually only see them in formal settings such as a high school prom or any such event. Other than that, we may find them in shops for florists or in a greenhouse somewhere but we usually don't see them anywhere else.

The privilege of seeing them in the wild in Vermont must be extraordinary and the state has gone to some lengths to ensure the bog doesn't get destroyed by the attention.

You can do your photography with no harm to the environment of the orchids and isn't that wonderful.

Note: we observe all of these photographers are suitably attired for dealing with high Sun situations although that may also have something to do with black flies which are a joy I have never experienced but there's a Black Fly Line somewhere a bit North of Rhode Island and it's not so good to cross it since those li'l bastards bite.